"The Six Million Dollar Man" Population: Zero (1974)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Jeannot Szwarc

Writer:

Elroy Schwartz (writer)

TV Series:

"The Six Million Dollar Man" (1974)

Original Air Date:

18 January 1974 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The entire population of the small town of Norris has been knocked out by an unknown sonic device. Against Oscar Goldman's orders...

Plot Keywords:

Bionics | Spy | Cult TV | Cyborg | Number In Title

Cast

Lee Majors	...	Col. Steve Austin
Richard Anderson	...	Oscar Goldman
Penny Fuller	...	Dr. Chris Forbes
Don Porter	...	Dr. Stanley Bacon
Paul Fix	...	Joe Taylor
Walter Brooke	...	Harland Tate
Morgan Jones	...	Major Phillips
Colby Chester	...	Joe Hollister
John Elerick	...	Corporal Ed Presby
Virginia Gregg	...	Mrs. Nelson
Stuart Nisbet	...	Harry Johnson
Bob Delegall	...	1st Technician
David Valentine	...	Teletype Operator
Michael Strong	...	Frank

Series Cast

These people are regular cast members. Were they in this episode?

Alan Oppenheimer

...

Dr. Rudy Wells

Runtime:

USA:48 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Silverton Productions

Trivia:

First use of slow motion during bionic stunts.

Quotes:

Oscar Goldman: How do you tell a man who saved your life that he disobayed an order?
Col. Steve Austin: You don't.
Oscar Goldman: I agree with you.

Movie Connections:

Edited into "The Bionic Woman: The Deadly Missiles (#1.5)" (1976)

Early life of the Six Million Dollar Man

The Six Million Dollar man was born in South Carolina and lived his early years in Six Mile, South Carolina. Beyond that we know almost nothing else about him other than little tidbits mentioned far and wide between various programs. Which is an actual geographic place in South Carolina that was once listed on Maps near Hollywood, South Carolina some 30 miles by road (16 by air) South of Charleston. There is not much there other than some homes and remains of Plantations, swamps that General David Hunter and General Sherman burnt to the ground during the War of Aggression.

After the series was taken off the air; this community was also taken off the state maps (although it still exists as do many such places as Bentleyville that were on the maps in 1950 but no longer there) clearing up some confusion among fans: the Town of Six Mile in Western South Carolina was left on thus reducing the confusion of where Six Mile was located by those who did not know the State of South Carolina. South Carolina has a number of Ghost Towns resulting from catastrophic events, lost of connecting transportation and lost of employment of residents.

Back then this program was taken mostly as rather far fetched science fiction but many of the things that the writers wrote about then are fact today. For instance: Paraplegics are able to walk with some of the newer electrical bionic stimulation devices and people who have lost limbs in Iraq are basically living about as normal lives as those who never lost any limbs.

Now it may seem a bit hokey that the Six Million Dollar Man seems to be stalked by the number 6 (Can't you just hear the superstitious fundamental Christian religionists now saying that the Six Million Dollar man was the sign of the beast:666??) but I assure you that this was all contrived by the writers after getting to know my friend and High School classmate Actor Wallace Merck; who was getting his breaks about this time appearing on television and in movies. Wallace is by the way from Six Mile, South Carolina a small rural town that is dominated by a monodock (Six Mile Mountain) located between Clemson, South Carolina (Clemson University) and Pickens, South Carolina the County Seat. Also note that movies are shot in Hollywood, California but the writers chose a place close to Hollywood for the main character to live near and that word Hollywood contains 9 letters which when 9 is inverted becomes 6.

In the end; we may say that several undercurrents run through the program ---those who are haunted by certain numbers ---for instance J.S. Bach was haunted by the number 7 and the possible meaning thereof.